How West Coast Avengers 3 Should Have Gone
by Bloodlustful
Summary: Alternate version of West Coast Avengers # 3. Recommended if you love Tigra and think she should have triumphed over Kraven in that issue. And especially if you dislike how her original character from the 70's was watered down, lowballed and mishandled in the bulk of the 80's and 90's.


Hi, everyone! I have not written a fanfic for a while, but I'm back with this one! In the third issue of West Coast Avengers, Steve Englehart creates the ultimate insult against Tigra. Downplaying her abilities so she'll lose against Kraven when she wants to prove herself after screwing up against Ultron, for shame. It was blatantly forced and the lowballing and bogusness of how easily Kraven took Tigra down when she has beaten him before(in Marvel Chillers # 4, which I own, to be exact), along with how the dialogue and plot is done in such a shitty, sloppy way, is enough to make any Tigra fan's blood boil.

Let's not forget this is the same Steve Englehart who was torturing Tigra with the cat/woman conflict crap(yes, she has a problem with her feral side as her original character, but not in the way it was mishandled in WCA), and trashing her original character from Marvel Chillers, Monsters Unleashed and other 70's appearances of hers(who was the real Tigra, a tough, hard-nosed, smart and no-nonsense crime fighter of a capable, adept heroine, not a ditz or any kind of incompetent flirt).

There's plenty more than just this I could go into, but the bottom line, case and point is that I was furious Englehart forcibly made Tigra look incompetent with how he didn't use her to her best abilities(I mean, when used to the very best of her abilities, which she rarely is, sadly, Tigra is just a little bit below Spider-Man in terms of strength, speed, durability, agility, stamina and reflexes!). As well as how there were readers who read that comic who were blind to how much it sucked and how obvious it was Englehart was making a punching bag for himself out of Tigra.

So, as the perfect up yours to Englehart, and as the ideal catering to Tigra's fans, especially those who wished her original character from the 70's had stayed intact along with her abilities being at their best staying intact, and who think(correctly)she should have beaten Kraven in WCA # 3 like she did in Marvel Chillers # 4, and not have been fraudulently beaten and humiliated, I am writing this fanfiction which depicts the first time Tigra encounters Kraven in the third issue of West Coast Avengers. And it's rewritten so there's nothing bogus about it, Tigra related or otherwise, and the way that it should have happened. If you love Tigra and hate the way the writers(with a few exceptions)have treated her, then boy howdy, is this the fanfic for you! In particular since everything Englehart used to try and cover up how he was making this comic as the ultimate insult against Tigra is in some cases removed and in others deconstructed here.

I own none of the characters. They all belong to Marvel Comics.

How West Coast Avengers 3 Should Have Gone

Tigra was in danger just now. It was true. She had taken down some of those art stealing criminals, but now she had been grabbed behind by her hair.

Not just by anyone, but by Kraven The Hunter. An old foe of hers, and as he had declared, they met again now.

Of course, he'd also mentioned that he did not have a mind control collar for her like he did back when he captured her and put one on her neck to make her his pet slave, and that meant Tigra needed to beat him if she wanted to survive.

And hey, she wished to prove herself after her unintentionally knocking Ultron into a computer where he was able to power himself up and get away.

So she, true to her smart, competent and instinctive form, struck back at Kraven by means of spinning around and kicking him in the ankles. "OOOWWWWWW!" Kraven shouted out, a second before he fell onto the ground.

Tigra had gotten free of his grasp in the process, and she'd take a hold of him after turning around and throw him into those of his criminal thief grunts who she hadn't brought down yet. They were knocked out and down like the others she'd gotten had been, and now it was just her and Kraven.

Kraven got up and said: "Well, now, it would appear you are quite determined! I recall how you were this way when we battled in that circus tent. You almost killed me then, and in your eyes, I could see you wanted to."

"Don't tempt me this time, Kraven." Tigra hissed. "I could barely control myself enough not to tear open your throat that time, and to this day, I struggle a lot with my feral side." "That's of no consequence to me, cat-thing!" Kraven replied.

As he said this, he ran at Tigra and tried to punch her, but she leapt over said punch. But in spite of this, Kraven grabbed her leg and slammed her against the ground, saying to her: "I've said this to you twice before and I will say it again. When up against me, Kraven The Hunter, you are playing out of your league!" "UUUUHHHHHH!" Tigra cried out.

Tigra, however, swung her leg so that Kraven was tossed into a car. "UNNNNNNNFF!" Kraven shouted. "I've got to say, Kraven, I'm astounded at what nerve you've got!"

Kraven got up and ran over just as Tigra stood up again, then he ran up and punched her in the face. Tigra at once said: "OOOOOOOOF!" but she struck back by punching him in the guts.

"ULLLLLLLF!" Kraven let out. Tigra continued on as she kicked Kraven in the chin: "I would have killed you back in our battle in the circus tent you mentioned if I were the cat-thing you addressed me as! This, in addition to the way that's because I defeated you!"

Kraven hurled Tigra into a nearby tree, then as Tigra hit it hard and said: "UUNNNGH!" Kraven told her: "Such a fact I will certainly remedy now!"

He somersaulted over to her as she got back up and said: "It is ironic you would mention me having nerve, since I now intend to see you paralyzed and defeated with my nerve punch!"

But Tigra ducked under his nerve punch, having landed on her feet after hitting the tree with her back and recovered from the impact just in time to see him about to punch her, and she also slashed his frontal torso with the claws on her right hand. She got a few wounds on him, and he shouted: "ARRRRRRGGGGGGHHH!"

Tigra then said to him: "In your dreams, villain! And as I was saying…" She tackled him to the ground and punched him in the face twice, continuing as she did so: "…you've got a lot of nerve not only to continue to call me a cat-thing regardless of how you're only alive because I'm not that animal, but also to say you're out of my league after a time when I've defeated you and spared your wicked life!"

Kraven smashed both of his fists onto the sides of her head, causing her to let out a loud yowl of: "AAAAAAAARRRRRRHHHHH!" and he also pushed her up off of him and kicked her hard in the belly. "WHUMMMMPPPPFFFFF!" Tigra let loose.

"Pitiful, overconfident fool!" Kraven exploded. "It behooves you not to say such things when you are fighting a battle which can only lead to your doom!" Tigra had been made to spin so her back was turned after the kick to her stomach, and Kraven capitalized on this.

He ran over and put her in his special hold where one arm was around her neck and the other around her waist. He had used this hold with Spider-Man before, and had, for a time, been able to keep him immobile and on the ropes in his grasp.

Now he intended to do even better than that with Tigra. He said to her: "You have now proven to be a very formidable adversary to me indeed, much like was the case with when I got taken down by you in that tent! Which means that, now that I have you in my unbreakable grip, I will not release you until you never again a threat or enemy to me!"

Tigra went: "AAAAAAAGGGGHHHCCKKKKK…" as the pain and damage both made themselves all too clear to her, and knew she had to break free fast unless she wanted to blow her chance to prove herself and to make Kraven pay for putting that collar on her. So she acted quick as could be, and effectively as could be, too.

She simultaneously used both her training from Dr. Jane Tumolo and her training from Captain America to stomp on Kraven's right foot with her own, elbow him in the sides with both of her elbows and take a hold of him to slam him hard against the ground.

"AAAGH! ULLLLLF! UNNNNNNNNNGGGGGHHH!" Kraven bellowed, and an instant later, Tigra pulled him up and slashed his face, then she punched his jaw and did a spin kick onto his head. "YAAAARRGH! NNNNNGGGHHH!" Kraven let out.

Tigra told him: "Nice try, but you failed miserably!" "And you will fail even more miserably now!" Kraven said before leaping into the air and kicking her, then by, after landing behind her, landing a backhand punch, ironically onto her spine.

"OOOOWWWWWWGGGHHHH!" Tigra howled, and when she turned around, she got tackled by Kraven. He pinned her to the ground, saying: "It would appear that our roles are reversed just now, yes? You had me in this very position just moments ago in this fight."

He punched her in the face and landed an uppercut on her chin while going on: "And now I have turned the tables on you, right down to how you are now the one being pinned and hit." It was countered, however, when Tigra, knowing she had to free herself quick, could tell both of her arms were free despite how Kraven otherwise had her pinned and capitalized on this.

She smashed both of her fists onto the sides of Kraven's head, going: "And likewise, I can get free of you just the way you got free of me! Looks like two can play at this game of two playing at that game!" She pushed Kraven up off of her and kicked him in the guts. Kraven, due to these blows, went: "UNNNNNNNH! UUUUUUFFFF!"

Tigra somersaulted over Kraven and kicked him in the spine, knocking him down, but he got back up and flipped a couple of feet away. "It would seem that weapons are a must just now, Tigra." Kraven said just after landing. "I was initially intent on defeating you with my bare hands but I have reconsidered that now!"

This sentence was spoken as he tossed darts at Tigra. She dodged them, however, leaping aside, and saying: "Sorry, but as fast as you are, you can't throw those darts faster than I am able to dodge them!"

She flipped over and kicked him in the face before grabbing his belt of tusk weapons off of him, then she did a backwards flip kick onto his chin before landing a few feet away and also tossing the belt aside.

She told him: "Say goodbye to your belt of tusk weapons. Since you obviously meant to use one or more of them on me if given the chance, from mentioning you were using weapons as of now, I knew my best bet was to separate you from your main source of them."

"You are a clever one, but it matters not." Kraven stated before firing ray blasts from his vest. "I shall now see you destroyed." "Wrong again!" Tigra spoke as she flipped over the blasts and towards Kraven, promptly knocking him down with a power kick to his face.

"UUUUUUHHHHH!" he said, and Tigra landed, swiftly slashing up his vest ray blasters with her claws, to make sure he couldn't try and use them on her again. But she then felt his foot hit her back, and went: "OOOOOWWWWWFFFFF!" as she was knocked a few feet forward.

While she landed on her feet as was the case with all cats, it still hurt to be kicked in the back like that. She stood up as Kraven did, and Kraven came towards her with a knife, telling her as he slashed her in this place and that with it: "You have attacked me for the last time, cat-thing! I shall now make certain of it you can never do so again!"

But making those cuts on Tigra with his knife was a bad move. Because along with how Tigra had seen it in time to move about so he only cut her in non-vital spots despite how he was aiming to slash vital ones, being cut by him at all had sent her over the edge.

She could no longer contain her feral side and pounced on Kraven viciously. Kraven was taken aback and by surprise, and Tigra strangled him brutally after she had gotten him onto the ground.

She was not holding back at all, and though she regained her human side in time to stop herself from killing him, she still was angry and unhinged enough for a moment to get up, pull him up and head-butt him in the face.

This knocked him unconscious, and Kraven fell onto his back, out cold and defeated. It'd be followed by an exhausted, injured and victorious Tigra panting hard while barely able to stand as she looked down at her defeated foe.

Once she had gotten her breath and stable human side back enough to talk again, Tigra said the following words: "Once again, Kraven, you were lucky enough for me not to kill you. I became overtaken by my feral side after those knife wounds you gave me, and had I not regained my humanity in time, I would have killed you. Surely you can never call me a cat-thing again after this. I am hoping you will realize such a fact when you awaken."

Just then, Tigra saw a shadow of sorts above her. She turned to see that it was two of her fellow West Coast Avengers, Hawkeye and Mockingbird, on a hover platform in the air. They'd arrived just after she'd defeated Kraven, she could tell, and obviously had seen her here along with the unconscious Kraven after they arrived.

"Oh, hello, you two!" she said. "Were you looking for me?" "Yes, we were." Hawkeye said. "And although we've found you, we must say we're most surprised." Mockingbird added in. "Yeah, I can see why." Tigra replied.

She then explained how, after she'd left to let off some steam, Kraven had attacked her after she fought with his henchmen. She told how she had wanted to prove herself after her big time screw up against Ultron and how, after a long, hard battle, she defeated him, in addition to the way that she almost got consumed by her animalistic feral side in the process and was just barely able to regain her human side in time not to kill him.

"I see." Mock said, with Hawk saying: "Well, we commend you on your victory, and on how you were able to get yourself under control again so you wouldn't kill him. After all, it is a serious rule that Avengers don't kill."

Hawkeye used his rope arrow to tie the comatose Kraven up, and after he'd fired it at him from his bow, he and Mock drove their hovercraft down so that Tigra could get onto it. Once she did, Tigra said: "Well, it sure feels good to have proven myself and made up for my mistake with Ultron." "But you didn't have to prove yourself, Tigra." Mock said to her.

"What?" Tigra asked. "Yes, I did. I made a mistake which enabled Ultron to get away." "But that's what it was. A mistake. We all make them." Mock told her. "Yeah, you do, I do, Mockingbird does, everyone does." Hawkeye spoke.

"And furthermore, even as there are foes who we can beat on our own, as you've proven here with Kraven, teamwork is still important." Mock said to Tigra. "I know it is." Tigra told to her fellow West Coast Avenger. "I'm well aware there will be foes who it takes all of us to bring down. But I felt like a liability to the team up until I defeated Kraven."

"Well, you are not a liability to the team at all. You weren't before this, and you certainly aren't now." Hawkeye assured Tigra. "Anyway, let's get you home. Kraven will be picked up by the police, and your wounds need treating." Mock said.

"Hey, don't I know it." Tigra nodded. "Still, as much pain as I'm in, I feel good, thanks to my triumph, my proving my worth and all that I've learned. We're a team, sure, and there will be times it takes all of us to stop a foe, but when any of us can do it alone, that sure says quite a lot about what we're capable of, too."

Tigra also thought about how Kraven would now be picked up by the police and back to the short amount of happy days she had with her husband, Bill Nelson, who was a cop, too. She missed him dreadfully, even now and in spite of how she kept it deep down in her heart and fully to herself, but she knew he was watching from heaven above her and was truly proud of her.

The End

So, how did you like it? Please rate and review, especially you Tigra fans! I'm hoping that this both catered to Tigra's fans and was a perfect "fuck you" to the Tigra downplaying, mishandling and ruining Steve Englehart. As well as a perfect example of how Tigra should have been shown in all of her appearances, both personality-wise and capability wise. I'm sure Tony Isabella, Tigra's creator, will be most pleased if he has read this story, since he was furious at the writers who dished out raw deals to Tigra, Englehart included, and if Steve Englehart has read this? It will please me greatly if he feels the sting of this major league "Take that!" I've dished out to his ass.


End file.
